A little book of the 4 basic knots to get started messing about in small boats. Color photos of real knots in use on real boats, the bowline, figure 8, half hitch and square knot. Also includes chapters on the sailor's spar hitch and marlin hitch. Bonus chapters cover nautical terms, how to tie a cleat hitch, wrap a flemish coil, belay a line and whip the end of a line, all the boatcraft skills needed to keep a small ship looking ship shape. The small boats featured in this guide are some of the most popular sailboats ever made, the Sunfish, the O'Day Daysailer and the Drascombe Lugger, so there is a good chance you'll be tying lines on one of these boats.
Last we checked George still had Kirby calendars, we scored one with our last order. 2026 is rolling by fast, and we had 60F in the Boat Works today. First day of meteorological Spring, heading towars the vernal equinox.
There are many airports across the country that are close to small boat ports, and those airports can provide a source of weather for a specific area, especially wind. With a google search for a Chart Supplement for the area, we can find phone numbers to the Airport Surface Observation System (ASOS) or AWOS.
The ASOS may also report the weather to websites like airnav, and there is the Aviation Weather Center website, but it is fun to call the number and listen to the up to the minute report for wind, temp, cloud cover and barometric pressure.
We are reviewing carb icing for aircraft, and it dawned on me, is carb ice a thing for outboard motors? Yes, outboard motors with carburetors are susceptible to carburetor icing, particularly in high-humidity conditions with air temperatures between -5F to +60F. The rapid evaporation of fuel and the low-pressure area created at the throttle valve can lower temperatures enough to turn moisture into ice, causing rough idling, power loss, or engine stalling.
Here's a chart from the FAA
Factors and Symptoms:
Conditions: High humidity (above 65%) combined with cool, damp air is the most critical factor.
Low Power Operation: Icing is most likely during trolling, idling, or in low-power, long-descent scenarios, where the throttle is partially closed and the engine generates less heat.
Symptoms: A gradual drop in RPM, rough running, stalling, or hesitation, especially when transitioning from trolling speeds. Once a motor quits, it will not restart until the ice melts.
Prevention: Running at higher power settings helps prevent ice formation. Using fuel additives like isopropyl alcohol (Heet) can help manage moisture in the fuel system.
While less common than in aircraft due to warmer, enclosed engine covers or more efficient cooling systems, it is a real issue for carbureted outboards in the right conditions, often mistaken for fuel contamination.
Let's get a Huzzah! for SCUPPERS, she was out for Sea Trials 5 years ago. Made from scraps, she has proven to be a fun little boat.
11 Feb 21:
Launched SCUPPERS for Sea Trials. Watertight integrity was 100 percent, no leaks from any of the 3 different seams we tried, THIXO, PL Subfloor and RustOleum soaked cloth. One positive aspect of the punt design was the ability to step in directly from the shore and walk to towards the stern, which lifted the bow, and from there I was able to punt pole off of the beach.
Found out real fast that the lightweight punt, with her narrow beam, is very twitchy side to side when an adult is standing. Standing up for an extended period would be a workout, and also the punt pole was too long, it created an even higher moment arm above the lateral center of balance. So I switched over quickly to secondary propulsion mode of paddle. She floats well on her lines with about 6 inches of freeboard and was easy to control with a paddle. The punt pole could also be used as a double paddle, not very efficient but it did move the boat around.
I checked balance fore and aft, and with just one person and no cargo it would be possible to submerge a corner. Keeping a wide stance did help with lateral stability but it was hard to change positions unless I shuffled. The punt also needs a skeg to help with directional control.
Overall SCUPPERS was an easy build with locally available materials, 4 leisurely weekends. She weighs in at 60 ponds and will fit in a pickup bed, so she'd be a fun little boat for kids to mess about in on the shoreline under adult supervision. We envision she'd be tied to the shore and kids would spend most of the day dumping sand in her bilge.
One question we get asked is how we know which end is which? As it turned out, I didn't know, most of the Sea Trial was conducted stern first. The bow is tucked up just a little more than the stern and she would have beached even easier. In the photos above she is beached stern first.
We took steps to help identify bow and stern.
Looking for some short oars now, we have oarlocks standing by. She also needs some handling lines, maybe a cleat or two.
PHOENIX is a 1982 AMF Sunfish, when Cap'n Jack found her in 1994 she needed a new rudder and new sail. All those bits have held up great, as we store sail, spars and blades under cover when they are not in use. Here she is posing for photos in 2013, and Skipper too, who is avoiding beach cleanup.
One thing we miss about Florida is the opportunity to go for a sail in February and not be too concerned about hypothermia...or heatstroke. Here's Skipper and PHOENIX out for a mess about.
You may or may not remember that we have youtube channel that supports this blog. We started @kentblairl in 2009 and initially thought that we might conquer the model railroading youtube world, but that changed when we moved to the bay in Florida in 2011. Our channel has 1.68K subscribers we've uploaded 771 riveting videos, some of them actually about rivets.
It's interesting to look back at the skiff restoration and see where we learned new techniques and tools and which areas we used previously learned knowledge. Als which pieces we thought we could salvage. Surprisingly were able to use over 90% of what we brought with us from Mississippi, and we estimate that the skiff was well over over 50% Pre Katrina.
Skipper had cut wood plugs before but it was new to me, so she showed me how to get good plugs cut out for repairing the multitude of holes. We used the plug cutter that came with the Fuller Pilot and Countersink bit kit.
16 Feb 16:
Skipper cut out the 3/8 inch cypress plugs. The little awls was good to pop the plug loose at the bottom after the sides were cut. A roll of blue tape makes a good plug collector.
The plug cutter did a good job at cutting about a 1/2 inch plug. So the system that we found worked for us was to put 1/2 a glued plug in from below, drop some glue in the hole and push the other 1/2 in from the top. We could probably find 1 inch cypress plugs somewhere but we like the local cypress. Titebond III waterproof glue was chosen for this task.
Filed off the top of the plug and sanded flush with 100 grit. Stole the Skipper's tiny dustpan.
Trimming out the rotted crossmember at frame 16.
Epoxy and screws to attach the new piece to the 19th Century crossmember. It can now share the load with the forward crossmember that was sistered sometime in the 20th Century. Note the large and small limber holes, whoever built this skiff knew what they were doing.
Port side frame 16 ready for action. We will trim it once the planks are hung.
